The Black Bow
by Asha-Blue18
Summary: In which Arnold cannot get his mind off the wrongness that was Helga G Pataki's black bow.


The Black Bow

In which Arnold cannot get his mind off the wrongness that was Helga G Pataki's black bow.

**I hate summaries**

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hey Arnold, hence why this story is here on FFNET.

* * *

Helga and Arnold are 16 in this story.

* * *

Something was…wrong.

Arnold blinked, a frown pulling at the corner of his lips.

There was something so very, very wrong about what he was seeing. It was a mistake. A travesty.

He was so zeroed in on finding the wrongness of the situation that it barely registered to him that people were still talking to him – people being his best friend, Gerald, and his newly-minted girlfriend, Alyssa Brown. He peeled himself away from the locker, away from his group, his eyes narrowing as he watched his former tormentor walk across the hall to her own locker.

_'She looks just the same,'_ he thought as his eyes followed Helga G Pataki, watching as she plowed through the throngs of students around her, all dressed in her usual gear once she reached high school – a band tee, dark jeans, sneakers.

_'Just the same, ol' Helga G Pataki, nothing wrong.'_

Though his stomach churned at the feeling of wrongness, he forced himself to halt in his steps. It was nothing, he reasoned, he was just seeing things. He would have believed it too, had Helga not suddenly whipped her head back as though she just heard someone call her name, just as he was turning away.

When Phoebe Heyerdahl finally caught up with her best friend a few minutes later, his eyes finally widened, his expression probably mirroring the smaller girl's as it went through a myriad of emotions: shock, confusion, and then finally understanding as her hand reached out to the black bow holding the tail of Helga's braid.

A small gasp left his lips as he realized just what wrongness he had discovered was all about.

Pink.

There was no pink.

Her bow. Helga's bow.

It wasn't pink.

Black. Why was it black?

_'How could I not have noticed before?'_ He wondered, because now that he has it seems to be all he can see. The black ribbon stood out very harshly against Helga's pale coloring after all, instead of softening it like the pink one did.

He saw Phoebe ask Helga the exact same thing he was thinking, or at least he thought she did, to which the taller blonde replied with a shrug. He should have known that even Phoebe, the only person in the entire school The Girl with the Iron Fists ever let get close to her, would not have all the information just handed to her.

He had taken a few more steps towards the two girls when a hand on his shoulder prevented him from going any further. He whipped his head back a little too quickly in surprise, getting a head rush, his mind jolting as he watched Gerald raise an eyebrow at him, hand still on his shoulder. Alyssa Brown, his just-confirmed girlfriend, was hovering just behind his best friend, "Man, what gives?"

"Huh?" he said dazedly, feeling a little stupid at his lack of reaction but not really caring at the moment.

"You just up and went in the middle of our conversation," Gerald rolled his eyes.

Arnold rubbed the back of his nape, remembering now how he had just left whatever conversation they were having when he got wind of Helga's black bow, "Oh, uh, nothing," he shrugged, "Sorry, Ger,"

Gerald just gave him a lopsided smile, "Just as long as you're sorry, man," giving him a pat on the back. Arnold going off on a tangent and just being generally inattentive was not a new thing for Gerald, after all. The same could not be said for his girlfriend though, who gave him a frown, her eyes darting from Arnold to Gerald and back again. Arnold wondered if she thought Gerald would get madder than he was.

She didn't say anything though so Arnold can't be sure.

"Now come on, we'll be late for first period," Gerald continued, not noticing Alyssa's expression as he nudged Arnold until they were walking again, picking up their earlier conversation right where he left off. Arnold smiled in relief, letting his best friend do all the talking, nodding and intervening only at certain points. With a smile, he extended a hand for his girlfriend to take. She eyed it for a moment, the frown still prominent on her face, before she finally shook it away and took his hand. Arnold apologized to her, internally telling himself not to worry about the bow anymore, and focus more on his new relationship.

That was a more pressing matter after all. Helga's new bow just wasn't his problem.

Not his problem at all.

* * *

His resolve lasted a mere two class periods.

As soon as the bell indicating the end of second period rang, he had shot up from his seat and ran out with his bag so fast that it was a while before anyone could even register he was gone.

He knew Helga usually had a short break after her second period on Tuesdays, and if he was correct in his assumption, then he knew just where to find her. He ran down the front entrance stairs two at a time and quickened his pace to a jog as he made his way to the large oak tree just behind the school, an area he knew Helga spent most of her time in, sometimes with Phoebe, during free hours. An accusing voice that sounded a lot like Gerald sprang from the back of his mind, bombarding him with questions like just why he was in such a hurry to meet his tormentor, and just how he knew where Helga's favorite spot was, but he ignored all that. He just knew, okay?

His jog slowed down to a halt as he finally, finally reached the oak tree behind the school, and just as he suspected, Helga was nestled comfortably in one of its nooks as she read through a particularly long book. Shakespeare this time, it seemed. She always seemed to enjoy Shakespeare.

He was right next to her when he finally spoke, "Helga?"

She startled at his voice and dropped the book, big blue eyes peering up at him, "A-Arnold," he couldn't help but narrow his eyes as she tugged on the end of her braid, her black bow bopping up and down. His temper flared. Without asking for her permission he plopped down gracelessly to the grass next to her, his eyes still trained on the bow accusingly.

She glared at him warily, "What do you think you're doing here, Arnold-o"

It would have been polite to answer her question first, but he found himself blurting out, "Why the black bow?" instead.

Her eyes widened for a moment, as if she had forgotten how to be angry, before her face contorted into a spine-chilling glare, "None of you damn business, Football Head, Criminy!" She bent to pick up the book she just dropped and shoved it back into her bag, "Now for once, stop being the buttinski you are and leave me alone!"

He frowned, "Helga-

But she shoved him so hard he made an oof sound as his back hit the tree trunk behind him. "Ow!"

"Just stay away from me Arnold!" she shouted, and jumped up from her seat before running away.

Away from him.

Arnold sighed, leaning his head into the bark of the tree behind him. That did not go according to plan.

* * *

**One Week Later**

He didn't know what was wrong with him.

It was just a bow. Just a stupid bow.

So what if it was black?

He turned his gaze to her once again, watching as her hand flew off the page during their English class (the only class they shared) before zeroing back on the black bow again. Then he caught himself and looked away again.

He should really ask Mrs. Dodds if he could have a different seat for her class. He wasn't going to get anything done if he had to sit behind her all this time.

* * *

**Two Months Later**

He knew it wouldn't last, and if he were telling the truth, it didn't surprise him very much how little the breakup stung, though the slap that Alyssa decided he deserved after the nonchalant way he took their breakup did hurt a bit. Who would've known she could hit that hard? Alyssa had always been a sweet and quiet girl who liked puppies and baking cakes and stuff, really a lot like his usual crushes, so that slap had blindsided him. He guiltily thought that it also kind of made her a little more interesting, but he shook that thought away immediately. Seriously what was wrong with him?

But then she had jolted him back to reality when she finished her rant with, _If you had just put as much effort into this relationship as you have with Pataki's bow –_

And then she had run off.

Pataki's bow?

Why was Alyssa so mad about that?

He shook his head and nursed his cheek, which still stung.

Oh well.

And speaking of Helga's bow, he frowned. He still didn't know why she had exchanged her pink bow for a black one.

Oh well, it wouldn't hurt to ask one more time.

He reckoned she'd be in the library with Phoebe.

Maybe this time she'd be a bit more forthcoming with him.

He's only asked like once every day for the last two months at this point.

What's another day?

* * *

**Three Months Later**

Arnold fidgeted with his bowtie, which was the same color as his cap had been. His palms were sweaty and he couldn't keep still.

He loosened his grip on the bouquet of daisies he had in his hand, lest he choked them to death before he could even give them to his date.

Gahhh, why was he so nervous?! He's had three girlfriends before this but this was the first time he felt so nervous that his hands were shaking.

They've been dating for a week now, this being their first official date. He smiled as he remembered how the last time he had asked her about her bow had panned out, about two weeks after his breakup with Alyssa. He had managed to corner her then, keeping his ground as she growled at him like some wild animal. Before they could cause a scene, he had pulled her into the nearest janitor's closet – just to talk, to get to the bottom of the wrongness that has been occurring for the last two months.

At first she had denied every claim, called him a football head, and then proceeded to throw every threat, insult, and abuse she knew at him, so much abuse that it took all of his considerable patience and a little more than that not to lunge at her. Or cry.

He was angry though, and so when she had finally shut up long enough for him to talk he surprised himself by not talking at all, instead lunging at her, not to beat her up, no, but attacking her with his lips. She seemed bewildered for a moment, he noticed, but he didn't particularly care as he ripped the black bow from her braid and threw it to the ground, kicking it away for good measure and grumbling something to the effect of**_ 'I hate that fucking black bow'_**. By then her eyes had fluttered shut and her lips had started to move and some kind of sexy sounding mew had left her lips so he followed up his act by running a hand through her braid till it was a braid no more, but just cascades of soft, silky, blond hair.

Arnold blushed. So he may have been a little aggressive. Which was exactly what she reprimanded him after he had finally calmed down. Fifteen minutes later.

Oh god, what was she doing to him?

He was still blushing when the door to the townhouse opened and out came a voice saying, "Bob, Miriam! I'm going!"

Then Helga exited the house and walked down the stairs, her beauty making him forget how nervous he was for a moment. Just a moment, before it hit him that god, she was beautiful. I am not worthy. And that only pushed his nervousness tenfold.

She blushed as she walked down, running a hand through her soft blond hair. She was wearing a strapless pink dress that had flowers along the bust and hem, and ended at her knees. On her feet were white kitten heels that made her even taller than her already tall frame that she towered over Arnold. He didn't mind.

Soft peach eyeshadow dusted her blue eyes and she had pink gloss on her lips.

But what really launched Arnold into action, as he covered the last of the stairs to meet her and smiled, was the familiar bow holding her hair together.

It was pink.

He smiled.

"Hi Helga," he said slowly, running a hand through her hair as she blushed and mumbled hi back.

"I-I like your bow," he said a little breathlessly, so enamored by the beauty that was Helga G Pataki, "Because it's pink, like your dress," finally covering the last space between them to capture her lips in another kiss. He felt her smile and pulled her even closer.

Everything was once again right with the world.

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**Roommates Chapter Five is really not happening right now. I've been experiencing something of an artist's block and really don't know how to finish the last scene at the moment. But don't worry, I'll get it eventually.**

**This is an old work I wanted to share (I've written a lot of half-finished stuff). Hope you like it!**

**\- ASHA**


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